LONDON (Alliance News) - The following stocks are the leading risers and fallers on the main London indices midday Monday.
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Larry Summers' decision to step out of the race to become the US Federal Bank Chairman has paved the way for US President Barack Obama to appoint Janet Yellen, who is seen by many as being less of a monetary hawk and therefore less inclined towards immediate or large-sized scaling back of quantitative easing. This, combined with the weekend deal on Syrian handover of chemical weapons, is pushing down oil prices, helping lift airline stocks, and pushing down gold prices, hitting gold miners.
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FTSE 100 - Winners
Vedanta is up 2.8% following the announcement that Tom Albanese, the former Chief Executive of Rio Tinto, has been appointed as the chairman of its subsidiary, Vedanta Resources Holdings Ltd.
International Consolidated Airlines, up 2.6%, easyJet, up 2.3%, and TUI Travel, up 2%, are three of the biggest gainers on the blue-chip index. As heavy fuel consumers, the companies are being lifted by the fall in oil prices as the US-Russia deal on disarming Syria's chemical weapons lifts hopes that US military intervention in Syria is less likely.
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FTSE 100 - Losers
Fresnillo, down 13%. The mining company is by far the biggest loser on the FTSE 100 as a result of the falling gold price as investors move away from the traditional safe-haven.
Wm Morrison is down 0.1% as the supermarket chain continues to retrace some of the gains it made in the middle of last week following the release of its interim results.
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FTSE 250 - Winners
Bumi is up 5.5% after it announced that it has modified the conditions of its separation from the Bakrie Group and PT Bumi Resources Tbk and expects to complete the separation by the end of November. The Indonesian miner said that it hopes to bring the deal to a close based on the financial terms Bumi set July 18 but decided to modify certain conditions and extend the expected closing date so it could solve problems related to outstanding items.
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FTSE 250 - Losers
Hochschild Mining, down 15%, African Barrick Gold, down 12%, Polymetal International, down 7.4%, and Kazakhmys, down 3.6%, are the four biggest losers on the FTSE 250 index as mining companies suffer as a result of the declining gold price.
UBM, down 1.5%. The company's Chief Executive Officer David Levin has given his notice of his intention to step down by July 31, 2014, after almost 10 years in the job. Liberum believes he has done a good job transforming UBM into a more attractive business, moving towards events and communications in emerging markets and away from a media focus in the UK and US. The brokerage believes the decision will improve share price in the future as it will raise hopes that the company may dispose of PR Newswire.
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AIM - Winners
Bridge Energy ASA, up 28%. The company said it has recommended a GBP103 million takeover approach from Norway's Spike Exploration Holding AS and shareholders holding about 62% of its stock have already accepted the deal.
Noricum Gold is up 13% after it said it has uncovered significant high grade gold and silver mineralisation from the first drill hole of its Rotgulden Gold project. The Austrian-focused gold exploration and development company said its RZ 4 drill hole went to 57 metres and found six metres of ore with 17.4 grams per tonne of gold and 27.8 grams per tonne of silver and another two metres of ore with 41.4 grams per tonne of gold and 198 grams per tonne of silver.
Rialto Energy, up 13%. The company has announced that its Ivory Coast Unit has signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the country's Ministry of Oil & Energy to extend its production sharing agreement for Block CI202 by seven years.
Optimal Payments, up 13%. Online payments company Optimal Payments PLC said Monday that its half-year pre-tax profit increased due to a significant increase in revenue thanks to good growth from its Neteller and Netbanx businesses. Optimal Payments said it made USD15.5 million pretax profit for the six months to June 30, compared with USD1.7 million for the corresponding period the previous year.
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AIM - Losers
Forte, down 33%, is a big faller on the AIM All-Share index after it announced that its proposed deal to acquire Leominex has fallen through. The two parties could not agree on certain amendments to the deal, including the withdrawal by Leominex of some of its assets.
Verdes Management shares are down 25% as it falls from the highs set last week after trading in the stock restarted. Despite the decline, the stock remains well above its level prior to the trading suspension.
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By James Kemp; jameskemp@alliancenews.com
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